Written by Benoit Goudreault-Emond
10. All hope is lost
Cloud's trail ended at a hole in the ground.
Or at least, that's the best guess Tifa could offer. Cloud's trail had been rather easy to follow, as he had not moved with any sort of stealth. Broken branches, matted grass, and corpses of different monsters made quite clear what path he had followed. But the trail stopped at that hole in the ground. Nothing on the other side. Therefore, he had gone in. But who knew how deep the hole was?
Should have brought some climbing gear, thought Tifa. The prudent course, she knew, would be to run back to Mideel and grab some ropes. But there was no time. If Cloud was in there, she had to follow, no matter what. But she did not know he was in there. If she was wrong...
Finally, after debating with herself what to do for a short while, she followed Cid's advice. She followed her heart and began climbing down the hole's wall. The dirt was quite soft, which gave her many handholds. However, those were not very solid. She had descended a mere meter when she lost her grip. She scrambled to recover it, but all her weight was on her left foot for a moment. The foothold there gave way and she fell, screaming in anguish.
Luckily, she was only a couple of meters above the hole's bottom, and the ground was soft. She landed unharmed.
Didn't mean it wasn't painful, though.
Getting to her feet as quickly as her protesting back would let her, Tifa looked around. From above, the hole had seemed very dark, so she was quite surprised to see that the walls glowed in a faint, soothing green light. Why it had looked totally dark from above, she did not know, and did not wonder much about it; she knew she had to hurry. Looking to her right, she saw the entrance to some sort of tunnel. Walking to it, she saw footprints on the ground. They were obviously Cloud's. She almost cried with relief, and sprinted down the tunnel.
She wasn't very far in when several bats came out of a small hole in the tunnel's wall. Angered by the young woman's intrusion, they swarmed towards her. Tifa tried to run away, but they were faster, and soon the bats were on her, biting and scratching. I don't have time for this! thought Tifa, as she reluctantly punched the closest bat. It fell and lay still, dead. She killed several others until the swarm finally decided to leave her alone. She paused, looking down at her bloodied hands, and wondered, Those bats were just defending themselves. I killed them. Why don't I feel any remorse?
The answer came to her: Because there are more important things right now. But when did she start thinking that way, and where would it bring her? Tifa shook her head, confused. Since when should I feel any remorse for mere bats? She resumed running and very nearly collided with a thin man who appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Trying to stop, she slid on the mud that was covering the tunnel's floor and fell rather ungracefully in front of the stranger.
The stranger smirked. "Well, well... one of the saviors of the Planet in the flesh. Only, she's not here to save the Planet, this time. She's here to prevent its salvation." His voice was deep, but there was something in its quality that made Tifa's hair stand on end. His features were hidden by the hood of the white cloak he wore. "Shame I can't confront you now... But I can at least slow you down," he said.
"Who are you?" asked Tifa, as she stood up and went into combat stance.
"You will know soon enough... But right now, I have other matters to attend," the stranger replied. And with that, he vanished without a sound or any sort of flash.
Tifa shook her head, trying to clear it. What in the world...? Was that man real, or am I losing it? First hating myself for killing bats, now this? Is someone messing with my mind? Her thoughts were interrupted by a snarl. She resumed her fighting stance, squinting to see what new danger awaited her.
Predictably enough, it was yet another monster. That one looked like a giant crab, its vicious claws covered with razor-sharp spikes. The rest of its body was covered by a shell that looked extremely thick. Its eyes, barely visible in all that shell, faintly glowed red.
Tifa tried to approach the crab, but it used its claws to keep her away. Twice, she tried to close on the monster. Twice, she had to retreat, its claws narrowly missing her. Since the physical approach did not seem to work, Tifa fell back and used her Materia. She tried Fire, but the beast did not seem fazed by the spectacular pyrotechnics. She tried Ice, but it seemed to actually heal the crab. She tried Lightning, but that did not seem to have much more effect that Fire. She finally tried Poison, but again, with little effect. Obviously, the Materia she was wearing was much too weak to have any effect. She stopped casting spells and tried to think of a way to get closer.
She did not have to wait long; the crab suddenly closed on her with a speed that seemed impossible for such a massive creature. She dodged its lethal claws, but one of them managed to take hold of her right leg. She punched the claw, careful to avoid the spikes, and was free, but her leg was badly cut. She cast Restore and moved away. The crab, sensing that its prey was vulnerable, pressed on, hitting Tifa on her left shoulder.
That was the last mistake the monster ever made.
Rolling away, holding her shoulder, Tifa felt anger build inside her. She let it grow, encouraging it, until she felt strength flow through her body. Then, faster than the eye could follow, she leaped between the two claws. She dealt several punches to the crab. She then gave it two kicks. She grabbed the crab and dropped it on the ground. She dealt the crab another punch, a vicious uppercut. She lifted the monster high in the air and threw it hard to the ground, making the walls of the tunnel shake. The crab was already dead at that point. However, she was not finished. She concentrated all her strength in a single punch that shattered the shell of the dead crab. Parts of the beast splattered all over the tunnel's stone walls.
Tifa ignored the oozing wound on her shoulder and jumped above what little that remained of the creature. She sprinted onward.
While Tifa was running like crazy in the tunnel, Cloud emerged from it. He found himself in a large cavern bathed in green light. In front of him, he could see the source of the light: a river filled with a green liquid. The Lifestream, he thought. And right in front of the Lifestream, crying, was...
Cloud was standing some distance from Aeris. Only, she was not praying; she was crying in front of the Lifestream, her back to him.
Cloud shook his head. It had to be a coincidence. Dreams were not reality, were they?
She felt she had done a terrible evil. Cloud knew what that evil was, of course, everyone knew. Why couldn't he remember it? He did not know.
Cloud shook his head again. Why was his thinking so damn muddy? He kept flashing back to that stupid dream... For an instant, he saw clearly what was happening, and thought, mortified, I should not have come here! But that was only for an instant...
But he knew the only way to fix this was...
Feeling as if he was moving in a dense fog, Cloud unsheathed his sword and stepped forward, towards Aeris. For an instant, he paused. What the hell am I doing? But that was only for a moment, because then...
Aeris felt his presence, turned around to look at him. Her cheeks were wet with tears. She did not dare to look at him. She asked him to kill her.
Cloud blinked. This wasn't just his dream... Aeris had actually just asked him to kill her! This is insane! he thought. He felt himself raising his sword, poised to strike. What is happening to me? Sword lifted, his arms trembled. He was fighting against himself. He had the uncontrollable urge to swing the sword down. He resisted with all his heart, knowing that if he gave in to the urge, something irreparable would happen. But it was a losing battle. The urge became stronger and stronger, and he wasn't even aware that Aeris was there anymore. All that existed was the sword, the urge to drive it down, and his own will, battling the compulsion.
Tifa emerged from the tunnel, panting, and screamed in horror, seeing Cloud, his sword poised over a crying Aeris. Something shattered in Cloud with that scream and, not able to fight the urge any longer, he swung the blade down.
Cloud did not realize that he would grant her wish until the sword -- his sword -- was whistling down towards her.
The sword was a mere centimeter from Aeris' head when Cloud felt a hard blow to his hand. The blow deflected his own, and he hit the stone floor next to Aeris. He just stood there, confused, as Tifa, who had deflected Cloud's blow, grabbed Aeris and, pulling the Cetra behind her, plunged into the Lifestream.
Seeing Tifa plunge in there snapped Cloud out of his daze. "TIFA!" he screamed. No words can describe the anguish that could be heard in his voice. He knelt down where Aeris had been a few seconds ago and, putting his head between his hands, started crying. "What have I done? They're both lost, now..." he said softly to the ground. Unfortunately, the ground did not give a damn.
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Benoit Goudreault-Emond April, 9 2001